Postcards from Mars

SIMOC, SAM presented at the Mars Society Convention

The Mars Society’s 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention will convene Thursday-Sunday, October 15-18, 2020, across this planet via the Internet!

The Mars Society’s four-day, international, virtual conference brings together leading scientists, government policymakers, commercial space executives, science journalists and space advocates to discuss the latest scientific and technological developments and challenges related to the human and robotic exploration of Mars and the eventual human settlement of the Red Planet.

Kai Staats will give a talk and live demonstration of SIMOC followed by a unveiling of SAM, a hi-fidelity, hermetically sealed Mars analog being constructed at the iconic Biosphere 2. [download slides (PDF)]

UA Engineering Capstone joins SAM!

We are pleased to welcome Ahmed Alraeesi, Arfan Wibisono, Coby Scheidemantel, Gustavo Velez, James Marlar, Meghan Marlowe, and Nathan Moeller as the first University of Arizona students to work on the Space Analog for the Moon & Mars. They will work with Kai Staats and John Adams at Biosphere 2, and Doug May with the University of Arizona to build a fully functional, scaled Automated Pressure Regulation System (APRS), a demonstration of a mechanical means to regular pressure in a lunar or martian habitat.